


Sometimes It Lasts

by Esin_of_Sardis



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, angst of all angst, merciless angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-01-14
Packaged: 2018-01-09 08:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1143908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esin_of_Sardis/pseuds/Esin_of_Sardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After six years away, Mr. Gold comes back to Storybrooke with an apology.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes It Lasts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [princessmelia](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=princessmelia).



Grey sheets of rain fell on Storybrooke. Black tires made faint wet splashing sounds all the way down the soaking street. The rain was a film, making the town that usually had little life and color completely devoid of both. For the third time in ten minutes, Gold nearly gagged on his coffee. He didn’t like it black, but the only gas station in the last fifty miles wasn’t high-tech enough to serve anything better. The bitter taste clung to his teeth and tongue, souring in his throat.

It was a foolish idea to come here.

Nothing had changed in the six years since Gold had laid eyes on the town. Not the shops nor the cars. Nor, he suspected, the populace’s opinion of him.

Grey trees lined the streets of the residential neighborhood. Black car turned into the cul-de-sac indicated in the directions on the passenger seat. Ariel hadn’t given him the address at first, wanting to make sure he didn’t have any rash intentions. Of course he had rash intentions, he’d told her. A rash decision had started it all, maybe that would be the thing to fix it.

The house was sweet. Blue siding and little bushes in the front that were covered with buds. Gold parked his car down the street a ways. After all, he hadn’t been invited. Shoving the keys in his pocket, he hurried down the street. By the time he reached the driveway of the blue house he was soaked, his long hair sticking to the back of his neck.

Taking a deep breath, Gold rang the doorbell. The chime sounded within the house, followed by thumps and muffled voices as someone came to the door. A moment later, a child’s voice calling back into the depths of the house. Minutes later, the door opened. Gold’s pretty apologies and planned words—his very breath vanished.

Belle. She was more beautiful than he’d ever seen her. She wore jeans and an off-the-shoulder top, bare feet, hair in a braid. Nothing like the artsy librarian he’d left. Ariel had been clear that he’d find her here though, not at the library. Now that she stood before him, he knew in his heart he’d been a fool to come.

The top of the screen door slid down so she could speak. “Mr. Gold,” she said pleasantly. “What—what are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have come—” He turned to leave. Once he might have been embarrassed, but he’d spent six years loathing his last words to her.

“No,” she said, stopping him on the top step of the porch. “You came all this way. What is it?” She sounded innocent, free. Like when he’d first met her. She was happy here. Without him.

“I couldn’t stay—I just wanted to see you,” he said, gathering the fragments of his thoughts as he spoke. “I wanted to apologize.”

“Oh.” With the syllable, a shadow came over her features. The one he’d forgotten wasn’t the true her in those last few months.

“Belle,” he said, coming back to the door, inches from her. “I can’t stop thinking—”

“Mama?” A little girl pulled on Belle’s sleeve. “Mama, can I—”

“Mama’s talking,” Belle said, smoothing down the girl’s hair. “Can it wait til she’s done?” The girl nodded. “Go wait in the kitchen.”

Gold watched the girl scurry off. Of course. Belle’s daughter. For the first time, he noticed the gold ring on her finger. What a fool he was. It was too late now. It always had been. Foolish, foolish. To think. To hope.

“Never mind,” he said. “I can see—it would be better if I left.”

“Gold,” Belle said, capturing his entire attention with his name. “It’s good to see you again.”

“I—” he stammered. “Are you happy?”

She bit her lip in that adorable away as a smile tugged at her lips. “I am,” she said. “Truly.”

“I wish you nothing but the best,” he said. It was a struggle to keep his voice under control. “Know that.”

“Same,” she said. “I’m sorry it had to be this way.”

“You’re happy. That’s all that matters.” Pushing his hands further down in his pockets, he tried to ignore the water dripping down the back of his neck. On the top step he paused again. “Belle?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t forget me. Please.”

She nodded, her braid bouncing with the motion. “Never.”

He gave her one last nod before forcing his feet to move off her porch, down her driveway. The sound of the door shutting wasn’t masked by the rain. It had been a fool’s errand to come. He was a fool to let her go.

Grey tears mixed with the rain on the way down his face. Black coat dripped on the leather seats of the car. Gold drove away, leaving, never to return to Storybrooke.


End file.
